How to Enable Copy and Paste in windows 10 Bash Files

Have you ever had to struggle with the Copy and Paste in windows 10 bash files? I have. It is simply irritating even though it is not one of the “hard things” to do.

If you are like me, then here is some good news. Windows 10’s Bash shell finally has a convenient copy and paste keyboard shortcuts. Well, one little sad part is that this feature is disabled by default what compatibility reasons.

I will show you in the next steps how to enable Copy and Paste in windows 10 bash files.

Enabling Copy and Paste in windows 10 bash files

First, open up your command prompt. You can do this using the hotkey “Windows + R“. Type cmd and hit enter.

Next click on the icon at the leftmost top corner of your command window. This opens up a set of options from which you should select “Properties“.

In the new window that appears, under the “Edit options” make sure that the check boxes for “Quick Edit Mode“, “Insert Mode“, “Enable Ctrl Key Shortcut” and “Filter clipboard content on paste” are checked. Click the Ok button at the bottom of the window.

How to Paste in windows 10 bash files

Method 1

Now go to a text editor anywhere you prefer, copy a piece of text. Return to your Command Prompt and right click. This automatically pastes the copied text on the command prompt.

Method 2

Alternatively, Copy a piece of text and on your command prompt use keyboard hotkey “Windows + V“. This will paste the copied content on the command prompt.

Method 3

A final option for pasting copied text is by clicking on the icon at the topmost left corner of the command prompt window, scrolling to “Edit” and selecting the paste option. This automatically performs a paste on your Command Prompt.

How to Copy in windows 10 bash files

To copy, just like you will do in any other case select the text you hope to copy and use hotkey “Ctrl + C“.

Alternatively to select all on your prompt, click the icon at the left topmost corner of your command prompt, scroll to “Edit” and select the “Select All” option.

Last Words

This may not have been this straightforward in earlier versions of the Windows OS. But in Windows 10, the ability to enable copy and paste just makes using bash files more seamless.